Iwata Tells Shareholders "Core Gamers Will Accept Wii U"

The Wii may not have attracted many core gamers despite decidedly hardcore games such as Monster Hunter 3 (Tri~), but Nintendo President Satoru Iwata is keen the console's successor will do better.

Asked at a recent shareholders meeting "will core gamers accept Wii U?", Iwata outlined his belief for why the previous console was not successful in this regard, as translated by Andriasang:

Wii was not accepted by core gamers because they did not want to abandon their preferred control approach. Additionally, Wii did not use HD because HD cost performance at the time was low. Wii U makes it easier to use conventional controls. Also, the Wii U controller is not as big or heavy as it looks.

So there you have it — high definition gaming and traditional controls will convince core gamers that the Wii U is for them. Do you agree with this summary?

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User Comments (112)

Core Gamers..... what the hell do people think of As core gamers these days? Yep, playing Call Of Duty. Core gamers are people like us following this forum, it dosen't make you casual by playing the Wii, It dosen't make you core by playing an XBOX, Simple as.

I somewhat agree with that statement. At first I will say that Xbox owners and PS3 owners did have a problem with the Wii motion controll (at least thats what alot of my friends who did buy those systems first say). They thought that the motion control thing was a gimmick and wouldnt stick around long. But now alot of "core" gamers as he put it accept the motion controls as much as a conventional controller just look at Kinect and the Move now.

I think that this is only part of the problem. I live in Chicago and see ads for XBox and PS3 games like Duke Nukem and L.A. Noire, but I rarely if ever see ads for Wii games, and even then they're for games that suggest that the Wii is not for mature audiences. So the people who don't read gaming sites but want games like MadWorld, No More Heroes 2, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and others buy other systems than the Wii, and when these games do come out for the Wii they sell poorly because there's no advertising there to correct the misconception. And no one wants to make another MadWorld after seeing that game drop from $50 to $8 in just a few months.

Yeah, I never got this whole divide between casuals/hardcore gamers. Ocarina of Time, Grandia II and Shenmue rank as my favourite games of all time. And I own nearly every Singstar edition on the PS2, which has always proven to be crowd-pleaser at parties. As long as the game is good at what it does and it appeals to my tastes, then that's all that matters, I don't care about the sodding demographic.

Wii was not accepted by core gamers because they did not want to abandon their preferred control approach. Additionally, Wii did not use HD because HD cost performance at the time was low. Wii U makes it easier to use conventional controls. Also, the Wii U controller is not as big or heavy as it looks.

"Easier" to use conventional controls? How so? I thought the Classic Controller was pretty conventional and easy to use.

What is even the definition of a core gamer, a hardcore gamer, and a casual gamer. Cause the way I see it even though I dont play Halo and junk like that online 24/7 I still consider myself a hardcore gamer. Even if its cause I play Pokemon most of time over any other game.

It does look big in pictures, I was pretty stunned when I first got one in my hands at E3. Up close it is a lot smaller than you'd think (I believe this is partially b/c you put your hands on top of the screen unlike say an iPad where you put your hands behind the screen). It's very comfortable to hold (surprisingly) and very light.

My only complaints were that using the D-Pad or face buttons (both below the dual circle pads) felt uncomfortable to me. However, with 4 triggers, I think that you wouldn't need those buttons for most games.

I loved the look of the screen, which due to its small size, I thought, made everything look better than it did on the HD TVs.

Not sure about core gamers ever accepting Nintendo or even what a core gamer is (I picture a 17 year old adolescent, but then I'm an 'aging gamer'). I do hope that we get more "Nintendo" and "Nintendo-like" stuff. The footage shown at E3 of shooter after shooter made me feel like the WiiU would be just like the other consoles, which makes it seem pretty pointless to me. It needs more variety and that Nintendo touch to make it interesting. Just having a bunch of shooters like everyone else won't make it distinct or interesting (but you certainly could have those things alongside games that make it distinct and interesting!).

Nintendo has expressed that they're making an effort to regain third-party support. That will definitely help, and multiplatform games will be easy to make on all three consoles. The problem is that for the average gamer, there's still no reason to buy a Wii U if they can already play all these games on their PS3/360. In order to market the system to these people, the Wii U needs to have both multiplatform games and third-party exclusives.

@cyrus_zuo - Thanks for the hands-on insight! I'm still as excited as ever about the Wii U. (I guess I will have to just wait and get my hands on it before I judge...but, to me, it LOOKS like the biggest video game controller I've ever seen. Every other controller that I can think of is smaller by comparison).

@8: That thing looks WAY bigger than the Lynx, but not quite as heavy as the Lynx was.

I will say as a gamer I do hope they don't revert back to more "traditional" controls. I can't imagine playing shooters without a Wii Remote and Nunchuk in hand. On the other hand, I can't see Mario being improved by motion controls (the 3 Wii games used very little motion controls). I guess my point is that I'd like to see more "intuitive" use of controls in general (motion or traditional). Many Wii games I found controlled so much better than thier tradtional counterparts partly because the Wii Remotes lack of buttons forced designers to streamline their controls.

Agreed with 1I felt that the Wii delivered(so far) MUCH stronger than the N64 and the GCN. Hell I even kind of prefer it over the SNES in ways. Nintendo themselves totaly delivered big time for both the hardcore(god i hate that word) and the casual crowd. I was so thrilled when Punch-Out!! was announced, since we haven't seen a sequal since the SNES days hehe.

Yet if only 3rd party support were a bit stronger....3rd party wise, i think Zack & Wiki was ultimately the greatest one, it's a masterpiece in my eyes. But ya....I'm completey happy, even more so than I imagined with the Wii....It's just a shame the VC has been on the decline a bit, yet it's kind of picking up again. And I wish Ninendo would give us Pikmin 2 for crying out loud. Ayways, the Wii completely destroyed the N64 and GCN era for me at least, it captures a bit of the magic of the Nes in ways and for me that's just awesome.

And who here isn't that excited for the Wii U? It must of been that 'core gamerZ' trailer with that Aliens, Ghost Recon, Tekken and whatever the hell else it was showing. 'It' along with the music, left a pretty bad taste in my mouth....It just didn't suite Nintendo. And of course there are no actual Nintendo games that have been revealed, aside from those tech demo mini games....And there's that amazing bird tech demo along with Legend of Zelda.

Yet I Would love to know if games are in fact '1080p' and if the sound will be Dolby Digital or Dolby True HD.And sorry, I don't want traditional controls for the genres that the Wii did so amazing in....It's like Nintendo is bowing down to the Wii Motion control hate and almost just going with the crowd.

I completely agree with everything waveboy said apart from Zack and wiki being a masterpiece and the best third-party game on the wii. Its a brilliant game but I wouldn't go as far as to call it a masterpiece and I think NMH2 is the best third-party wii game. But I agree with everything else he said, the wii had some of nintendo's very best first-party games, the third-party support could've been better (even though there were still some great third-party games for the console) and overall I think its a fantastic console for core gamers (even with the annoying situation with those three jrpgs) but they should've advertised the core games for the console at least as much as the casual games for the console. I also couldn't stand that 'harcore gamerz' trailer they showed for the wii U which doesn't seem like something that belongs as a trailer for a nintendo console and it does sort of seem like nintendo are giving in to these sorts of gamers.

Iwata is dead on I think. The biggest problem was the controller. It was seen as a gimmick. I would much rather hold the ps3 controller. And he is wise in pointing out that the new controller isn't as big or heavy as it looks - because it better be easy and comfortable to use. and as Zach said, better advertising will help a ton, and not calling it Wii U will help too.

I think the other thing was the Wii's processing capabilities. Due to the fact that it was less powerful than the 360 and PS3, most "core" games get a crappy port for Wii or don't get a Wii port at all. If you notice, most Wii ports of PS3/360 games have ugly graphics, while games like Super Mario Galaxy look top-notch. The people who port these games don't really try to make the games look as best as they can on the system. All they know is the Wii is less powerful than a PS3 or 360, and they just downgrade the graphics as much as they can.

@ WaveBoyI've been pondering 3rd party support on the Wii. Certainly it wasn't amazing, but there are some strong 3rd party games that I really enjoyed: Rune Factory Frontier, NBA Jame, Boom Blox Bash Party, Little King's Story, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, World of Goo, and Muramasa all make my list as essential Wii games.

Beyond that there are others that I think most people would agree are a cut above: NMH, Z & W, MH3, Red Steel 2, SkyCrawlers, GoldenEye, A Boy and His Blob, Order Up!, FF: The Crystal Bearers, Ivy the Kiwi?, Lost Winds (I & II), and MLB Power Pros.

And others that are guilty pleasures (games that have some fatal flaws, but are still good in spite of themselves): Fragile Dreams, Trackmania, Dawn of Discovery, DeBlob, Disney Epic Mickey, Just Dance, Raving Rabbids, Mushroom Men, and Sonic Colors.

...and those are just exclusives there are of course the multi-platform games like Rockband the Lego games.

What strikes me most is the variety I see on the list. Shooters are missing of course, but there is a lot of variety and interesting game play. I think 3rd parties did a good job of offering that variety on the Wii, perhaps moreso than on any other system this generation, but people didn't really buy it, which is why Nintendo is being forced back towards the red ocean. The Blue Ocean worked for Nintendo-made titles, but 3rd parties found the Bluer parts of the ocean to be devoid of life.

What I don't understand is why, from a business standpoint (dollars-and-cents, bottom-line profit), Nintendo is suddenly so concerned about "core gamers." Seems to me like they've made a boatload of money focusing on "casual gamers."

@ Mandoble:I'm not sure you're not making my point for me without meaning to be.

The list of games I put up didn't fit into Strategy, RPG, Horror (and I'm interested where those numbers come from anyway? I could name more than 3 strategy titles on the Wii, the list looks highly suspect). Regardless, if you look at the games I have above and started putting them into categories what categories would they go in?

I think you'd use the words "maybe genre x" or "I'm not sure, kind of genre y." Anyway, point being that there is lots of variety just in my list, and your numbers don't actually dispute that. Your list shows that there are lots of games in a few specific genres on the other consoles, which I agree with .

The problem is that gamers can't understand the difference between core and mature. Most games rated M are played by teenagers (example Modern Warfare or GTA). What Nintendo should try to improve is the relationship between Japan, Europe and U.S.A. Americans and European fans are tired of look at Japan and see how many good games Nintendo has.

@Mandoble: Yes, except that leaves out lots of titles that defy catagorization. Games like Red Steel 2 have no equel. It's been called a FPS but you spend the majority of the game swordfighting. Mad World is as much a hack and slash as a beat 'em up. And what the hell is Manhunt 2? Super Paper Mario? Zack and Wiki? Little King's Story? You won't find anything else like these games on the PS360.

You also left out the two categories that Nintendo excels at: platformers (Mario/Donkey Kong/Kirby) and action adventure (Zelda/Metroid).

The point here is that "core" gamers don't want good or original games, they want generic crap played with a generic controller.

Casual and core....kind of relative terms. Does casual mean you play games like Farmville, while core means you play Call of Duty all the time (I play sometimes, but come on)? I'm buying the Wii U, but still, the labels are kind of dumb....

Wrong. Hardcore gamers didn't accept the Wii because IT HAS NO GREAT GAMES. Yeah sure it has plenty of good games but just one of the PS3/360's greatest games could easily wipe out more than 5 of the Wii's "good" games. I have a Wii and PS3 and as soon as I got my PS3 I put my Wii in the closet to collect dust. PS3 games have ragdoll physics, decent graphics, realism, and overall are just great. Wii games don't have any of that because of lack of CPU power.

PS3 games have destructable environments, physics. great graphics, great controls, no overused gimmicks, and A LOT less shovelware. Notice that most great games like GTA and Dante's Inferno are put on the PS3 and 360 and not the Wii... THIS IS A PROBLEM. It's the GAMES not controls.

THere is no "Well gameplay matters more than all of that" BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT SEPERATES CURRENT GEN GAMEPLAY FROM LAST GEN. I enjoy playing my PS2 as much as I enjoy playing my Wii, and that's just pathetic

In the end I'm just looking forward to more fun, and I'm sure Nintendo will continue to deliver that. Next Christmas (my guess at the WiiU launch) seems forever away. At least I'll have Skyward Sword to keep me busy (and to reaffirm just how bad I am with a blade when sword-fighting goes motion controlled!).

I believe that if nintendo came out with hd for the wii system, it would have blow away in the market..But they still sale but they would have all the hard core gamers as well..Hopefully the wiiu comes out with a bang with top notch graffic, ten times better online support then the wii..

And please do not try to argue that i'm wrong, why? I have both a PS3 and Wii. Got my Wii in 2007 and PS3 this year. I have the best of both, and the PS3's experience is much better. Don't get me wrong I am still a Nintendo fan but even I admit that the Wii is a complete failure in terms of delivering decent titles

For once I agree with what Iwata says. This really does address the complaints that core gamers had with the Wii. However, I still feel as if it's too little, too late. For all we know, the competition's consoles could be right around the corner, and who knows what they'll do to give the WiiU some strong competition. I, for one, will wait and see what the competition does before deciding whether or not to purchase.

@Tornado: Nintendo is probably worried that the Casual fans might not pick up on the Wii U like they did the Wii, because they already have a Wii, and they are Casual, as their title of being "Casual" entails. If their is a boom in sales for the Wii U like there was for the Wii, say goodbye to Nintendo caring about the "Core" fans.

@SunnySnivy: Just because you hear the term HD, it doesn't mean the graphics are spectacular. You can have a New Super Mario Brothers Wii U in HD and it could look the same as the Wii version, only it's in 1080p HD. Much cleaner visuals and looks better on HD TVs, which is all the local Wal-Marts here sale.

Uh, while the controller has a screen, it won't be used for controls. It's still got all the necessary standard inputs (4 face buttons, a D-pad, 4 Shoulder buttons, 2 analogue sticks) so it's more or less a standard controller. Honestly, this feels like the first time Nintendo has honestly tried to appeal to me since the Gamecube era.

@25 Don't forget about all but neglecting the indie crowd (that they promised to support during launch) and keeping WiiWare in obscurity with a lack of advertising and harsh filesize limit. That really rubbed me the wrong way being a "garage programmer" myself.

And from an industry standpoint, I'm pretty sure that "core" refers to the popular consensus, "hardcore" refers to people who play for the sheer challenge and adrenaline rush, and "serious" refers to people that wish to elevate games to an art form, eschewing popularity and cheap thrills to play what moves them. Those definitions have certainly been mangled throughout years of corporate double-talk and fanboy wars.

I'm considered a hardcore gamer. Ugh, I hate that word- I'm just a gamer who loves video games dammit!

The Wii wasn't a turn off for me. And there's plenty of... ugh, "core" gamers that enjoy the Wii. Online, obviously is the weakest point. Software-wise, well, I have played many great games on Wii and I'm personally satisfied with my collection. Maybe it's because I have an open mind to games which is lacking in many many gamers these days? I don't know.

But I do say- even though the Wii was a financial and commercial success, there are still points where it could have done better. I'm not blind. I know the issues with the Wii. It's just those issues didn't affect me.. Much at all, really. I don't know. I still play a handful of games online with no real problem. I guess I'm used to it.

I'm still not convinced. It is going to take a whole lot more than a statement from Nintendo President Satoru Iwata to get me to accept the Wii U. Show me the games and then I will show you my money Nintendo.

Hardcore had been a term since back in the day - the definition is the one that kept changing.

Back then, we were just gamers. If you didn't play games, you were a non-gamer.

Then we invented the "core gamer" when games had become gigantic in supply and varied in options - core gamers were those who played a large amount of games, while gamers just played games every now and then.

"Hardcore gamer" first appeared as a reference to those who played video games on HARD, VERY HARD, and INSANE difficulty no matter what - they were considered the champions of the core gamer.

"Elite" and "l337" gamers were the terms the younger generation gave to hardcore gamers as a new slang. But that died off quickly due to the fact that only jerks and elitists would use them.

Flash forward a few more years: By this time, the gamers, core gamers, and hardcore gamers were becoming older. Some had families, many had jobs, but for the most part they had responsibility. Terms like core, hardcore didn't mean much to them anymore as they had less time for video games --- leaving the younger generation with the terms.

The younger generation associated "hardcore" with what they always hear it in. Hardcore gamers were often seen as the champions of competitive games: Such as fighting and shooters. So the younger generation associated "hardcore" with "mature titles". ...and that's how you have the term mean what it is today.

Honestly, what I think the term "hardcore gamer" SHOULD mean is the opposite of a casual gamer. Nothing wrong with casual gamer, as that just means they have more important things to do - but I do find something wrong with the definition of a hardcore gamer.I think hardcore gamers should refer to those who put more time into video games than they should, hit the 'Try Again' - 'Continue' - 'Restart' - or 'Load back to previous save' button instead of giving up, and stay up long into the night playing them.They GIVE UP THEIR TIME for video games, rather than trying to find time for them.

I never liked it as a definition for difficulty or maturity - I think it should stand for those who continue to play games more than they should. You know... being "hardcore". It's a term used in other hobbies and lifestyle that express that these people put A LOT (if not too much) of effort and attention to detail to the things they love. Why can't it be that for video gamers?

I really don't think any of the "hardcore" gamers he's referring to will even accept the Wii U at all. I've talked to these "hardcore" gamers, and they think the Wii U is a piece of junk. These same people criticize me for not playing FPS games.

There is no middle-ground between "casual" and "hardcore", casuals think that most games are too complicated, and hardcores think that anything that is not an FPS or on the 360 is "gay". This kind of mentality sickens me, people don't even try any other games for more than 5 minutes, yet they blindly think shooters that everyone else plays are the greatest game ever.

@58: Argue with you, I will. PS3 has great controls? Are you being sarcastic? The dual shock is the worst game controller ever made. It sucked on the PS1, it sucked even more on PS2, and sucks hardest on the PS3. That 15 years old and needs a major overhaul.

Wii has no great games? Why are Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 listed near the top of meta critic all time list behind only GTA 4, which is listed twice (kind of redundant if you ask me), and World of Goo (which is of course on WiiWare)? User scores for the Galaxy games are much closer to the critics scores for GTA 4. Don't blame Nintendo for your poor taste in games.

Online is for noobs. Real gamers don't care about that sh!t, and don't want our gameplay tarnished by people like you who scream and curse everytime something doesn't go your way i.e. every time you play.

I couldn't tell you if cooking Mamma took skill or not to master but since you obviously had experience with the game it just shows how poor your taste in gaming is.

As much as I don't like these kinds of terms, people like Iwata that aren't average gamers use them so they can be properly coined. I think he had it about right that no HD and different controls turned off "core" gamers, but I also think it was because they didn't like "casual" games like Wii Sports. However, you've got "casual" games on XBox Kinect, so someone couldn't blame Nintendo for having only that. I think that most gamers will accept Wii U because of HD, better online, and top-notch games, but you're always going to have those fringe fanboys that will bash it for no reason.

intense games are rated m casual t and downi love the fact u can enjoy games and not feel its so big to label urself casual or core. ive owned the wii for a few yrs but notice hd lacking, online lacking, and dont care. wii u sounds revolutionary. 3DS is super cool2. zelda oot3d is worth buying a console4. on wii metroid is pretty sweet ...i like other m. others prefer prime. two best motionc games4me were punchout...n shaun white snowbrding1. core isnt huge on wii but it is the casual gamers system. thats ok with me.

Wrong, those people that wouldn’t touch it because of the control or the graphics aren’t hardcore gamers PERIOD. Those are the mainstream junkies that play maybe 1 or 2 games a year.

The hardcore gamers complaints were things like FRIENDCODES, low demo count for wiiware games, no demos for retail and vc games, not stable online, no voice chat – then bad voice chat – then lack of use for both voice chat devices, lack of real mii integration into the system, not being able to communicate with random people through the net and make friends, small storage and lack of integrating the SD card properly for storage, not supporting SD card music in most games (only one did this), sloppy online shop set up (even the 3DS isn’t exactly organized), and for the 3DS at least no communication between the people on your friends list.

Lets be serious, 3DS does fix a lot of things that the Wii had problems with, but not being able to communicate between your friends is a slap back down to ground 0 in bad online set up. If you want to fix your game sales and get the hardcore back, increase the space, start doing demos, and fix your online. Making it so online communities can’t form and not letting people try games before they by them is your biggest faults. It is so sad that people can turn on there Wii, DSi, and 3DS and look up porn but can’t chat with there friends, make new friends, and play game demo’s. At this day and age where the iphone and ipad are creeping up on consoles and handheld sales, you need to have these features or you will fall behind.

Last thing is core gamers are the ones who are campaigning to get games released in their region. If you really want core gamers you would stop these PR games and ignoring your fans and release the games people want. This includes Xenoblade and The Last Story in NTSC, Arc Rise Fantasia in PAL, and Mother 3, Pandora's Tower, and Earth Seeker globaly (as well as many other games).

pandoras tower looks unique and xenoblade sounds original...well see em in eu or na...online games are way cool...fifa in sept for 3ds...btw pes is smooth on 3ds great fun. games on 3ds are underrated as well. ive enjoyed 3ds soomewhat more than wii.

People are always PS3 this 360 that... and Wii is horrid. I think personally that most exclusive content given to PS3 and 360 is total trash as most are just first person shooters. I own four, count them, 4! Different gaming systems. Wii, PS3, 360, and PC. For all my hardcore, First Person Shooters, RPG's, Racing, needs I use my PC because I have a nice video card. I get great graphics and I get awsome games on PC.

360 died on me on my fifth game purchase. (Fable 3) I gave up on it due to all the boring games going for the system. I mean its just a Red Ring of Death. I have a PS3 just as a bluray player since I never bought a single game except Little Big Planet. Everything else on PS3 I could buy on PC, so I did.

Wii has games I will always go back to. Super Smash Brothers is an example. My buds come over for a gaming session I pull out the Wii. I havn't heard a single complain about graphics when playing a round of Super Smash since it isn't the graphics that make a good game. Wii has a load of FUN games that I like... NO! LOVE! They are fun and that is what I get from Wii. If you rely on graphics then you arn't a gamer.

Far to soon to say that. If the Wii u is outdated in a couple of years (graphics wise), Core gamers won't accept Wii u. Well, maybe only to laugh about!

I still think it's not good that the wiimote becomes secondary. First this means the controller won't be updated to Playstation Move accuracy. And second: Does anyone want to play a first-person shooter with the Wii u controller? Have you guys seen the very underwhelming first Killer freaks gameplay? Sure the game can improve a lot graphics wise, since it's in early development. But playing it with the wii u controller? It can never beat the quick movement of the Wiimote!

Im not sure if you were serious or sarcastic, so ill just set my opinion in oposistion of the comment. When I say fan base I refer to the people that bought the Wii for the games they have always loved. To me, that crowd, not the motion based, never played games before, got it as a family system, we havent touched it in a year buyers, is what should be looked at.

Case and point, look at the people that defend the great games that have come along. All of them tend to talk about the same games. Nintendo got what it wanted, and because of that, sales didnt match people that play games regularly.

Steady fans of Nintendo games cry out on the games that they want. This is from simple VC titles, all the way to games that we hope will make its way to our shores.

So to say that the current fan base didnt buy the games is very hard pressed to believe. I stand by my statement, and end with the current situation. Xenoblade, Last Story, and Pandoras Tower.

Problem with wii games to me: 1. Easy to beat or beat it quickly. 2. HD only bothers me on 3rd party games, Ninty games look good. 3. Maturity level in the games... to me just to many children games and partygames(shovelware). 4. Lack of DLC... as much as it is a rip off for games like Red Dead Redemption(if it were on wii) the dlc for the game is awesome you get like 9hrs+ of campaign and a new multiplayer game mode(zombies) for only $10(i think). 5. Its hardware limitations.

@Skotski Wow. That was a pretty cool lesson in linguistics. Very eye-opening, actually. I've never liked referring to myself as a "gamer", anyway. It seems so demeaning considering that no other media has a specialized term to describe its partakers. I've also preferred the term "hobbyist" to "hardcore" because, like you said, "hardcore" has such a negative connotation attached to it.

@Dragoon I know, right? There's so many fantastic "middle-ground" games that never see the light of day because both "hardcores" and "casuals" are too snobbish to give them a second look. If only the so-called "real gamers" realized how much they're hurting the industry.

Well, now that Nintendo has officially stated that they have no plans to localize Xenoblade, Last Story or Pandora's Tower in the US, I seriously doubt that Nintendo cares at all about what their true fans really want.

Nintendo has been a core company I mean atleast I feel that way I loved my wii. What I think Iwata means is that people who spend $60 on a game with no story or a really bad story (like Call of Duty) just for online play will want this system.

These terms can apply to any hobby/pasttime, which is why I worded their defs in such broad terminology. But in the end, like most, I just prefer "gamer".

Debates about software, & hardware can get, & usually do get biased. However, hardware does have a little more punch(in-debate), since it can be measured more, than software can. In regards to that, yes hardware plays an important role in software potential on any console, albeit the level of it's importance can differ between peoples' opinions. The WiiU needs to be able to be on, @ least par w/ the competitors' systems, hardware-wise. Software-wise, Nintendo should offer what other systems do(on par w/ what those other systems can do at least), as well as it's own brand of things, & tricks.

Nintendo needs to understand that w/ the WiiU, they shouldn't just try, & copy whatever Sony/MS do. They shouldn't try, & copy at all. They should try, & excel @ whatever their competition does, in addition to doing something that the competition can't do(in this case, that means bring out ips that any competition can't get their hands on, like Mario/Zelda/etc.)

As for Iwata's statement? Yes, the Wiimote had some gimmicky look to it. It took some getting used to. But, the controller isn't the only thing that will alienate any type of gamers. Software variety. Hardware abilities. & those 2 include modern convention in gaming, like online.

@bugaham: Yes, I agree with your #86 comment about Wii assumes people have friends/family to play w/ on a daily basis. This is not so for me. That's why I think a console should have great online functionality, though also have great offline functionality, as well, in regards to playing multiplayer games.

Well I will make a point of getting the Wii U. Around launch. Since Darksiders 2 is supposed to be a Wii U launch game. I played and enjoyed Darksiders on PS3. So the Wii U should be able to match/or exceed the Graphic look of Darksiders 1.

It is the new tablet controller that I want to see how Nintnedo's new control scheme can add to the gameplay in a different way that is different from PS3 & Xbox 360. Even though Darksiders will be released about a year earlier. The Wii U version of Darksiders 2 will be a launch title and a year "late". So this is where Nintendo can show why the new tablet controller is better. Darksiders is a videogame that does just fine with a standard controller (DualShock 1,2,3) has more or less been the standard since 1998.

So Nintendo will be able to demostrate how the tablet controller provides a better gameplay experince. I bought every Nintendo home videogame system. So I will buy the Wii U. Nintendo has a chance to get back to core games and the win core gamers back to Nintendo.

I will give Nintendo a chance. I like the idea of the tablet controller so in 2012. The jury will be out on Nintendo.

The N64, Gamecube and the Wii had terrible 3rd party support. So it is not only the core gaming crowd, But also the game developers Nintendo has to impress with the Wii U. Good luck Nintendo

sometimes feel like im reading comments on a 360 or ps3 site people whinging and whining hardcore this hardcore that i can imagine someone who had never played a nintendo console looking at this site for some info reading stuff like this and walking away not bothering with ninty if you hate it that much dont bother their consoles not punchbags im off concreting now just got to put some hardcore down

It was the Wii that started the heavy use of these terms really.They started marketing primarily to people that don't play games. No console has ever done this before and it was a big success. However because the console wasn't powerful enough to support multiplatform releases from third parties, the amount of party or 'casual' games severely outnumbered the AAA titles, and it became labeled as a casual gamers console.You see most gamers are competitive by nature, but they don't realise that gaming isn't a sport. There isn't one set of rules to determine who is the best gamer. So when they want to be taken serious they create a division between them and those that just play for fun. Hence the terms 'hardcore' and 'casual'.

"High definition gaming and traditional controls will convince core gamers that the Wii U is for them." - Don't they already have a PS3 or Xbox 360 for that ? If that's the only motivation behind the Wii U will they buy one ? Didn't the online system have its share in bad sales too ? Did they advertise good enough ?

@101 LTD "Don't they already have a PS3 or Xbox 360 for that?" This will be Nintendo's biggest hurdle with the Wii U. Nintendo needs to bring something to the table that makes gamers who already own an HD console to say "I need that." They may be able to do it (the controller itself isn't anything we've seen before), but it could be tough. They'll need more from 3rd parties than ports of PS3/360 games.

Call me a jerk, call me "crippled by nostalgia," but I haven't owned a console since my SNES suddenly ceased to function properly and didn't need to upon discovering the wonderful world of emulation way back in 2000. Through it I relived classics, as well as experienced titles that we should have gotten in the first place such as Seiken Densetsu 3, which __still__ has not been brought to the Virtual Console, yet Pulseman, Gleylancer and Sin and Punishment were?

I don't know what the term "core" gamer means, all I know is I like games that are simplistic, have decent mechanics and are fun, and to me all those Run n' Jump sidescrollers, shmups, and overhead view action RPGs are fun. I have a great set up with a Mayflash Wii Classic Controller adapter and two flatties (and two Buffalo USB SFC turbo pads) with Svideo from the comp cloned out to my TV, and a machine that runs atleast up to PSX games smoothly. So who needs you, Virtual Console? You don't even have Capcom's Ducktales, Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers, or even Little Nemo and you probably never will... but I can sure play them just fine and quite close to how I remember them, without you.

The Wii U controller looks Rii-f*cking-diculous, but when I first saw it I got my hopes up that maybe Nintendo was going to ditch the strictly-home-based console and basically make a big DS that would double as both a portable on-the-go system and a stay-at-home system by way of transmitting the image to a TV by wireless video broadcaster (such things do exist, I just saw such a thing on my last visit to Fry's Electronics). But no, the Wii U controller apparently becomes useless after being taken so many feet away from the main console... So much potential, Nintendo. Why?

nintendo is not hard to understand...there are few hardware n software companies in the video game industry that r as creative [software] and innovative [hardware]as Nintendo. 3DS is actually quite gamer friendly. wii is for casual gamers mostly. wii u will hopefully create new territory 1080p, controller innovation, video chat, 3rd party friendly, and casual gamer friendly at the same time. the future is now. are u game?

Forget about core gamers terminology. The fact is that there are many game types that are not present or almost not present for Wii: RPG, Simulators, Strategy, FPS, Horror, mmo, mmorpg as some examples. So we can say that you might be happy with a wii as long as your preferred games are not of these types, I bet this will be true again with the WiiU. Remember that the big success of the Wii is due to non-gamers (people that was not playing to anything else before, they saw something wth the colour of a microwave, bought it and all of a sudden became "casual gamers") because most of the gamers already moved to other consoles or PC. Are these non-gamers going to replace their microwavecolouredthing by a new one?

HD graphics was not something needed for a "core" gamer. And if anyone thinks "Core" gamers are people who play CoD are just wrong. Those are nothing but Casual gamers. I go to talk to someone who plays CoD and I don't know their gaming background and they tell me they are "gamers". So I go on to ask them about Chrono Trigger and they say they have no idea and only play CoD. That is not a Gamer nor a Core Gamer. I need to say that again. CoD is for Casual gamers just like the Guitar Hero explosion from before. The only problem the Wii had is it didn't have any games period. There was a Hand ful of good games. Half the games I loved on the Wii were compilations games of older titles. I was a huge fan of the Gamecube and was hoping the Wii could be even better but it wasn't. The GC had so many huge hits and it had one of the biggest libraries of first party Nintendo titles. So HD graphics is not what will bring the hardcore gamers to the nintendo systems good games will.

"I'm sort of sick of this debate... Why can't we just call them games and be done with it?! Does there really have to be line dividing casual and hardcore gamer's? It's really getting out of hand"

It's Nintendo who started it! Before Nintendo flooded our minds with their "broading the audience" talk, there where just 2 types of people: People who where interested in games and people who where not. It's Nintendo's fault. In that case you could say Nintendo divided people more then they brought together. I guess that was not really their intention, but at least the whole Wii/DS brought them a lot of money so they aren't complaining!

Nintendo wants to attract core gamers? Core gamers love games and Nintendo doesn't seem to be very interested in releasing very many for the foreseeable future. And what message did Nintendo send core gamres this week when they refused to release the Japanese three in the U.S.?